Educational guidance will be provided during the Vertical Workshop by Eulàlia Bosch, a collaborator of Eugènia Balcells, while technical and theoretical direction will be provided by Alfons Puigarnau, a lecturer in Aesthetics and Theory of Art at the ESARQ School of Architecture. The students will be divided into seven groups, each of which will be directed by a former student of the ESARQ School of Architecture, with architect and ESARQ alumnus Ignacio Infiesta acting as the overall coordinator.

The week-long project will take place in both interior and exterior locations on the UIC’s Barcelona campus. The students will work on and present a total of three cubes, each of which will have a different concept: a “symbolic” cube, a “cosmic” cube and an “anthropological” cube. First, the students will submit 1:10-scale models of their designs, followed by 1:1-scale final prototypes, the fabrication of which is made possible thanks to the Vertical Workshop’s links with companies that operate in the architectural sector, such as ONDUCART S.A., MECALUX S.A. and LQ-LUX.

The work of Eugènia Balcells is based on a language that originated in the United States and is associated with the experience of experimental cinema. The fundamental parameter of this language is light, as it enables the relationship between space and time to be experienced, with reference to the object in question and everyday life. Her work often includes a mixture of semantic, symbolic and cosmological elements.

The Vertical Workshop has been held ever since the creation of the UIC’s ESARQ School of Architecture 15 years ago. From the very beginning it has enjoyed the participation of internationally renowned architects, such as Carlos Ferrater, Carme Pinós, Emilio Tuñón, Luis Moreno Mansilla, Winy Maas, Karl Chu, Bernard Cache, Mike Weinstock and Dennis Dollens.